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Dessert

Steamed Fruit Pudding

A steamed pudding made from bread crumbs, butter, sugar, sour milk, eggs, raisins, spices, and flour.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Steamed Fruit Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. In a bowl, combine dry bread crumbs, butter, sugar, sour milk, and eggs.

  2. Stir in raisins, baking soda, and spices.

  3. Add enough flour to create a stiff batter.

Steam and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into a greased pudding mold.

  2. Steam in a kettle of boiling water for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

  3. Serve with whipped cream or wine sauce.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Raisin + clovetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,070 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  5. Raisin + allspicetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,475 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure as the pudding sets while steaming.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidity of the sour milk to lighten the pudding.
Sour milk
Its acidity activates the baking soda and adds moisture to the batter.
Butter
Adds fat for a tender texture and rich flavor.
Dry bread crumbs
Absorb liquid and give the pudding body and a soft crumb.

The step that matters

Adding the flour to a stiff batter. The batter must be stiff enough to hold its shape in the mold; too much liquid makes a dense, soggy pudding that may collapse during steaming.

Swap the allspice

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, butter, sugar, milk, egg, raisin, clove):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Cardamomfits about as well
  4. Allspicethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, butter, sugar, milk, egg, raisin, clove. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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